1
In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, on the first day of the month, the word of the LORD came by Haggai the prophet to Zerub'babel the son of She-al'ti-el, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehoz'adak, the high priest,

2
"Thus says the LORD of hosts: This people say the time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the LORD."

3
Then the word of the LORD came by Haggai the prophet,

4
"Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins?

5
Now therefore thus says the LORD of hosts: Consider how you have fared.

6
You have sown much, and harvested little; you eat, but you never have enough; you drink, but you never have your fill; you clothe yourselves, but no one is warm; and he who earns wages earns wages to put them into a bag with holes.

7
"Thus says the LORD of hosts: Consider how you have fared.

8
Go up to the hills and bring wood and build the house, that I may take pleasure in it and that I may appear in my glory, says the LORD.

9
You have looked for much, and, lo, it came to little; and when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why? says the LORD of hosts. Because of my house that lies in ruins, while you busy yourselves each with his own house.

10
Therefore the heavens above you have withheld the dew, and the earth has withheld its produce.

11
And I have called for a drought upon the land and the hills, upon the grain, the new wine, the oil, upon what the ground brings forth, upon men and cattle, and upon all their labors."

12
Then Zerub'babel the son of She-al'ti-el, and Joshua the son of Jehoz'adak, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the LORD their God, and the words of Haggai the prophet, as the LORD their God had sent him; and the people feared before the LORD.

13
Then Haggai, the messenger of the LORD, spoke to the people with the LORD's message, "I am with you, says the LORD."

14
And the LORD stirred up the spirit of Zerub'babel the son of She-al'ti-el, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Jehoz'adak, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people; and they came and worked on the house of the LORD of hosts, their God,

15
on the twenty-fourth day of the month, in the sixth month. In the second year of Darius the king,

Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1952 [2nd edition, 1971] by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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